Jarrod Emick, who won a Tony Award playing Joe Hardy in the Broadway revival of Damn Yankees and who recently appeared in The Boy From Oz and Ring of Fire, is now taking part in the New York Musical Theater Festival cast of Drift, which begins performances in Sept. 13 at the Sage Theatre.

Playbill.com spoke with Emick about the show.

PLAYBILL.COM: How did you get involved with the musical? Jarrod Emick: A friend of a friend called me and said that Jeremy Schoenfeld was trying to get in touch with me to see if I wanted to be involved with the piece.

PLAYBILL.COM: Were you familiar with his work as a writer? JE: I wasn’t, but I’ve shared many a beer with him at the place formerly known as Marlow’s.

PLAYBILL.COM: What is the show about? JE: It’s about a group of guys in therapy who are going through divorce. Some are divorced, some have kids, some don’t, some are separating and still think they can work it out. It’s a look into that.

PLAYBILL.COM: Tell us about your character. JE: My character, Peter, is the one who breaks all the rules during group. He owns a bar, which is the one thing that he got out of his divorce. And he’s a musician wannabe. He meets up with Christian Campbell’s character and they have a musical camaraderie. Peter acts like he’s doctor Phil, but he also has not resolved any of his issues.

PLAYBILL.COM: What made you want to be a part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival? JE It’s such fantastic work. It’s new stuff and that’s what’s so important to do. I love the revivals, but it makes me feel like we’re doing theatre in London where people go to the theatre because they need to and they want to. The people who see these shows come because they want to and they’ll see some fantastic stuff.

PLAYBILL.COM: Are there currently any plans to move Drift to another theater follow its NYMF run? JE: Yes, though I’m not exactly sure where they want it.

PLAYBILL.COM: Do you have any other projects in the works? JE: Waiting for the Moon, a new musical about F Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, with music by Frank Wildhorn and book and lyrics by Jack Murphy. Vincent Marini will be directing it. We’re going to do it in North Carolina in July and then hope to bring it back. I’ll be F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lauren Kennedy is playing Zelda.

PLAYBILL.COM: How does it feel to sing a Wildhorn score? JE: I always thought that I couldn’t sing his shows, but he wrote it for me and Lauren. This is unlike anything he’s written before, so much so that I even tried to talk him into writing it under a surname. It’s 1920's flapper razzmatazz. I’m really excited about that.

(Playbill.com is a media partner of the New York Musical Theatre Festival 2006.)